Bradon Jurn's Reviews > Deep Domain

** spoiler alert ** Some avid readers of Star Trek fiction know the story behind Deep Domain. That story being how author Howard Weinstein was called in by director Leonard Nimoy to brainstorm ideas for Star Trek IV:The Voyage Home.

While I'm sure Nimoy used some of Weinstein's input, whatever wasn't used-from Howard's story outline-became this book. The result is a uniquely satisfying Star Trek adventure that addresses some of the same allegory Star Trek IV does.

While checking in with a Federation science outpost on the water world Akkalla, the Enterprise crew finds the scientists missing; apparently kidnapped. They also find a great deal of political and social unrest as the fascist military is trying to take over the government.

As it turns out, this already corrupt government has been making a 'deal with the devil' by trading their natural resources for a neighboring planet's high technology. And just as it is with our own planet, the wildlife and ecology have to pay the price for a political agenda.

Spock and Chekov are sent down to investigate in a state of the art aquatic shuttlecraft, aptly named- the "Cousteau". They also end up getting kidnapped and pretty soon Admiral Kirk and crew have a huge mess to sort out and many mysteries to solve.

Much of the exposition is ironed out by the second half of this book and our Federation heros go searching for the mythical Wwafida. I felt a true sense of wonder as they searched the Akkallan ocean for these creatures-whose very existence could bring stability to the government.

I found the Akkallan ocean floor every bit as exotic as an alien world. Learning the history and mysteries of this planet-which has a land to water ratio of 98% water-was my favorite part of the book.

I also loved the ample use of Dr. McCoy. The good Dr. Is given alot to do in this read as he gets to play ship's counselor-of sorts, smoothing things over when Kirk can't. Bones is also given all the best lines and gets to save the day on occasion.

Weinstein's sensibilities toward endangered wildlife and ecology are in full bore here. This book very aptly demonstrates the importance of biodiversity in a thriving ecosystem. It also showcases how all life on a planet is biologically linked, one way or another.

While reading this book I often envisioned what it would have looked like on the big screen, as Star Trek: IV. It would have been cinematic, to say the least! But while there are allegorical similarities between Deep Domain and Trek 4, I feel this book has more in common with the Star Trek animated episode, "The Ambergris Element".

All in all, I found this to be a very entertaining Star Trek adventure with alot of originality. It's a story that's as relevant today as it was thirty-some years ago.